There has been some debate among guitar players about which one is better than the other. If somebody would ask me I would select DiMarzio personally for reasons that it has more character than Seymour Duncan.
I based my review on this subject by experience. After a long time installing guitar pickups to a lot of guitars, I found DiMarzio got more character to its sound. However, if a customer wants to have a sound like his favorite artist and that artist is using a Seymour Duncan for sure I would advise him or her to get a Seymour Duncan pickup the same model used by the artist if possible. Seymour Duncan is very good with tone shaping.
Then why do I still like the DiMarzio? Well, it interacts well with whatever coil combination you have on your guitar. (Ex. Full Humbucker, Parallel Humbucker, Single Coil North, Single Coil South, In Phase, Out of Phase).
If you are a gigging musician, you don’t want to sound like one artist and sound crap covering another artist. You should have flexibility on your guitar so you can sound decent enough compared to the original sound.That is the purpose of split coil combinations.
The most popular of the pickups I have installed is the DiMarzio CrunchLab on the bridge position and DiMarzio LiquiFire in the neck position. This has been the signature of John Petrucci of Dream Theater for a very long time before he switched to his Illuminator pickups.
All my customers love this as an all around pickup. Again I would like to emphasize that an all-rounder pick up is essential for a gigging guitarist. It got a decent output, so it will not sound tiny when split into a single coil. The combination is also cheaper than a comparable Seymour Duncan.
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I’ll have to trust you on the sound comparisons. I have never had the opportunity to test pickups side by side or enough to tell the difference. Interesting to read about though, Den.
If I did decide to replace pickups, what is a typical rate that a guitar tech would charge for replacing and rewiring a pickup set?
Hi Geoff,
I would like to explain here something regarding the difference between pickup installation and pickup rewiring. If you want to change pickups it is called pickup installation. On the other hand, pickup rewiring means modifying the coil itself, by either putting more or less coils as required. There are a lot of artists that demand custom rewired pickups as what they are called. Guitar technicians will charge between $15 up to $100 for a pickup installation.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
Thanks for the information on guitar pickups, Belden. I have been a bass player for several years and have always had issues with pickups. For whatever reason, it seems I can always hear the top two strings (E and A) way better than the D and G. I had one bass rewired, but I didn’t notice much of a difference. What would you recommend for a Fender Precision?
Hi Nathan,
On the bass side, I would recommend Seymour Duncan over DiMarzio pickups. It depends on what kind of music you play. If you want to be more punchy, the Quarter Pound P-Bass is the best choice if you want to stay passive. If you want more of that then consider the Pro Active P-Bass.
Of course there is the Vintage P-Bass model if you want the vintage sound of your Fender Precision Bass. The Hot P-Bass will give you more punch and warmth than the Vintage Model.
Regarding your Bass issue, rewiring will not solve the problem. I suggest you raise the height of the D and G string pickup (closer to the strings) then adjust as necessary to get the balance you need. You can also lower the E and A pickup if needed. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the comments,
Den